Learning Trust from the Bus

Our band has a bus. Well actually, we have two busses…or is that busi? Anyway, we don’t need two vehicles for our band to travel in. We just need one…one that works well…one that gets 15 maybe 18 miles to the gallon…one that doesn’t drink oil…and maybe, just maybe, one that doesn’t break down every 1,500 miles ‘cause our average band trip is 1,800 miles.

7 miles to the gallon is killer on our budget. Especially when we play for “passing the hat” or tips which is most of the time. I often pray and ask God, “Why can’t our bus be more efficient and reliable?” I haven’t got an answer yet. But, I am sure that God has a lesson in this for me and the other guys in the band.

The story goes like this. The bus broke down about a year ago (October of 2011) in Saginaw, Michigan. It just left us high and dry. My wife had to come all the way from Wisconsin and get us! (While I’m typing this I am humming “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me Lucile” to myself) It has been sitting on a church parking lot all this time. We (The Band members) have made many…many attempts to bring this thing back to Wisconsin. Others have tried to help us. We bought the second bus in an attempt to get a trailer and tow the first bus home. (FYI: the band named the first bus Irwin and the second bus Irwin Jr. because it’s smaller than the first bus).

We used Irwin Jr. to travel in for awhile. After a time of building our finances, we prepared Irwin Jr. to go get Irwin. We rented a 20’ foot trailer and took off to Saginaw to go get Irwin. The trip was disastrous and explaining what happened will be for another blog entry someday! Suffice it to say that Irwin Jr. also broke down in Michigan and after 2 days of repairs and some police action, we hobbled home. We spent almost $700.00 to get Irwin and came home empty handed. Finally, after a year of sitting in Saginaw and threatened with impoundment, Irwin was repaired just enough for us to drive it home.

So now, we have two vehicles for the band. Irwin has a bad engine but the cabin has been converted and is more practical for the band to use. Irwin Jr. has a good engine but gets 7 miles to the gallon and is super hot to travel in and still needs to be converted for usefulness. What to do?

We need to get rid of one and use the money to fix the other. We will never get enough out of the sale of either to fully pay for the upgrades. We could sell both of them and start over (that just sounds painful).

As you can see at this point we don’t know what to do. We need about $4000.00 to make this work. $4000.00 we don’t have. There is no doubt our feeble little band needs God’s help. We (The Band) ask for His help daily! To this point, we have not received any subliminal messages, impressions or angelic visitations, nor have we received $4000.00.

That’s where trust comes in. Proverbs 3:5, 6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

“OK, Lord could it be that I’m not trusting You enough, ‘cause, I don’t know how to trust You more than I am trusting you now.”

What would you do?

“I Am Jack’s Kid!”

Have you ever had the privilege of someone coming up to you and asking, “Hey, aren’t you Jack’s kid?” Unless your Dad’s name is Jack, the answer is “no”.

Well, my Dad’s name is Jack and yes, I have lived that scenario…several times! At first, being naive, I thought it was kind of’ neat. I was proud of my daddy and I was aware that my father had made enough of an impression that people knew him and they were able to identify me because of it.

As I grew up, the question started to lose its charm. The more it was asked the edgier it felt! My response went from an innocent “Yes I am!” to an inquisitive and foreboding “Who wants to know?” I began to realize that the impressions that my father had made caused a judgment that was being passed along to me.

What took me the longest to realize was the method to make the identification. Please understand, it wasn’t that this person just happened to be thinking of my father (whom they hadn’t seen in twenty years) looked at me and miraculously put two-and-two together. However, it was my name that led to the inquisition. I can still hear it, “Hambrock… Are you Jack’s kid?” This line of questioning would be followed by the comment, “Yeah, you look like ‘em”

And that’s what got me thinking. When people let it slip that they are “Christian”, they make it known that they are of the family of God. They are telling the world that God is their Father. And just like with my dad, people pass judgment on me because of the impressions He made on them. It wasn’t until I had children of my own that I realized people formed opinions about my Father through me.

So, in a nutshell here’s the truth! People will know us by our family name and will pass judgment on us by the impressions left by our Father. But know this, the way people feel about our Father is based on their judgment of our mannerisms and character.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not too concerned with the impressions God leaves on people. But, I do wonder about the impressions I have made and what people think of Him…because of me.

The Lesson from the Balloons

For the past 10 years my Church has a Sunday in October that we deem “Salvation Sunday”. The purpose of “Salvation Sunday” is simple. It is a day of intentional evangelism. It isn’t the only day of intentional evangelism, but on “Salvation Sunday” we celebrate offering Jesus Christ and the gift of Salvation. The good folks of my Church intentionally invite their unsaved, unchurched friends and family. We intentionally offer them Jesus Christ and His Salvation using special music and media. Finally, we intentionally fellowship with all in attendance…over an intentionally cooked dinner. (I really like that last part!)

A year ago we added a new tradition. It was suggested that we take balloons, place a simple gospel message inside with the Church’s phone number, and release it to the world. Last year we tried this .We had our fellowship meal together (scrumptious!). We handed out the 35 to 40 pre-stuffed, Helium balloons. We went outside and prayed over the balloons. Then, we let them go.  It was a beautiful gesture of releasing the gospel to the world.

So...we did it again this year with more balloons. This time we filled 79 balloons with a gospel message and Helium. After we intentionally ate our dinner together, we took the balloons outside, prayed over them and let them go.

That’s when it happened!

As we released the balloons, a down draft came out of nowhere pushing the mass of balloons down almost to the ground. Instead of all bunched up, the balloons spread out and rose into the sky quickly…at least 72 did. There were 7 balloons that got pushed to the side and when they started going up, they were caught in the trees. Most of the balloons were held by the balloons themselves, but one pink balloon in particular was caught by its string.

As most eyes were fixed on the mass ascension of balloons (pun intended), conversations began about who might read the message inside and hopes and prayers that God would allow the right person to find the message at the right time. Slowly, the congregation’s attention turned toward the detained balloons and the conversation began to shifted  to wondering if the detained messages would be freed. Slowly, one by one each balloon was individually pushed back and forth by the wind until they were worked free. It seemed as though each balloon was time released. Each balloon was held until it was time for the message to be released. As each captive balloon became released a cheer would rise from the crowd. With each release the cheer would grow louder and louder until there was one balloon left.

The last balloon, the pink, entangled balloon, was swaying back and forth. At times it was stretching straight up with the string so taut it looked as if it would pull the tree out by the roots. Folks stayed awhile to see if the last balloon would be released. But that was impossible as the string had wrapped around a thin branch and knotted itself to the limb. The crowd dwindled as the moments passed

There were only a handful of us left to watch the entangled, pink balloon’s struggle. I, personally, didn’t see it. One of the good folks of the Church said, “There it goes!” I turned my head in time to see the balloon that was knotted at the string, impossible to fly…fly away.

I stood in awe of God and learned a lesson. His message is released into the world. At just the right moment, when we are ready, God releases His message into our hearts. There is nothing that can hold it back or keep it from coming. Even if it seems impossible, God can and will release His message into the world...just like a balloon caught in a tree.

Take heart O, Christian….God is still in control!

Food: A Love Story

I love Food. I mean, I love Food! I’m not sure when this love affair began. I can remember in the early days when I was immature, young and thin, I didn’t pay attention to Food. I knew it was there. I partook of it, but only to take advantage of the relationship. I’m sure I was abusive to it as I would ravage the Food and walk away. With my tummy full, I wouldn’t return again until I felt the desire to eat thinking only of myself and my needs.

Somewhere in time, Food caught my eye. Yes, when I was young it was Food’s more revealing states that would cause me to lust. With just a glance, Food could bring on the hunger. Whip cream, meringue, melting butter, pies, cakes, cookies….. and doughnuts caught my attention. Indeed, as a young man I was infatuated by the desserts. I thought they were racy. They caused my heart to skip a beat and I felt my metabolism could be satisfied by them alone.

As I became older and my waistline began to mature, so did my affair with Food. At that point the racy view of hot banana nut muffins coming out of the oven or the smell of fresh baked bread was not the cause of my heart skipping a beat (although it still brought a smile to my face). Those emotions had been replaced with the visually esthetic mushroom caps stuffed with lobster and the smell of a dry rub, grilling rib eye steak.

I have come to realize that Food is a cruel master. Food turned the tables on me. (Pun intended). It held me in its grip and mocked me as it trashed my body. Armed with this epiphany, it pains me to say that we have been estranged for a while. And now, I don’t see food as often as I use too. I no longer steal away midnight rendezvous’ at the refrigerator. In fact, we have a strict visitation schedule.

The realization of what Food has done, taking my affection and shoving back in my face, has left me feeling used and abused. All the pain from over eating, the embarrassment of loosening my belt buckle, the gas and the indigestion has to stop. I am bringing an end to the abuse caused by Food! I am severing the relationship!

Even though it ended badly, I look back on the affair with great fondness. Can you relate?

In The Spin Zone

I’ve seen Bill O’Reily….a couple of times. He says that his commentary show is a “no spin zone”. “So, what is spin?” you may ask. Well, I’m glad you did! Spin is the ability to take facts and twist them or “spin” them to make them seem to be in your favor.

Now, you may say to yourself, “Self…isn’t that called lying?” The modern answer is “no”! You see it’s not lying because the truth didn’t change. We all know you can’t change the truth. We just change the presentation of the facts so it appears in our favor.

Let me see if I can demonstrate this using our current political climate.

Politician A accuses politician B of doing something that the voters won’t like. Politician A will “spin” the facts so it looks bad for politician B. Politician B will deny the accusation of politician A and give a rebuttal to refute the accusation by “re-spinning” the information and thus making it appear to be in his favor. Of course, if you’re listening to their words, you will be confused. Due to the spinning and re-spinning, the situation will be totally unrecognizable. You must remember, neither politician is lying! They are merely restating the facts in such a way as to make themselves appear favorable to you.  

How about TV sitcoms, we are told that the sitcom is a laughable reflection of modern culture. Have you ever seen a husband & wife sitcom where one or both individuals will skew the facts in order to paint themselves in a different light to the other. This, of course, is part of the sitcoms strategy to earn a few laughs from the viewing audience. It usually works.

The good thing that has come out of all of this “spinning” is that there are no more liars in the world, just different points of view.  So, now we don’t have to deal with the guilt and stress of telling the facts as is. Nor do we have to be suspicions and wonder if others are telling the facts. All of that is alleviated by “spin”. We just need to accept what we are told.

So, in the future when a child puts a “spin” on his or her story to make themselves appear more favorable, do not say they are lying. They are merely learning from the adults.